The Prayers in Rossford

Heaven

“Oh, God!” Will groaned. “Is that it?”

As Will dropped one side of the bureau, Kenny let the other go and said, “It wasn’t that bad.”

“Oh, crap,” Will disagreed.

Annelise brought him a drink and said, “That’s for my big strong man.”

“Oh, my God,” Layla murmured from where she sat on the sofa while Aidan laughed and squeezed her.

“That is the first time she’s ever done anything like that,” Will said, sitting on the floor and wiping his brow.

“It may very well be the last.”

“Okay, guys we need to get the bookshelf,” Brendan said, running up the steps with two wardrobe bags over his shoulder.

“Oh, hell, Bren,” Dena shouted from behind him, as he moved and she and Milo brought up a coffee table. “We need to rest.”

Brendan had already gone to the bedroom and dropped off the wardrobe bags.

“Can you believe we’ve got our own place?” Bren said.

Layla said, “You’re the cutest gay couple in Indiana.”

Kenny pulled Brendan’s face to his and said, “Are we? Are we weally, weally cute?”

“You need to shave!” Brendan said, moving away and rubbing his hand over Kenny’s cheek.

“I saw this one book, called The Joy of Gay Sex,” Annelise began.

“What the hell were you reading that for?” Aidan said.

“Maybe I’m a lesbian. Anyway,” she said, “there was this one picture of a gay couple in the shower, shaving each other and I thought that was cute. I think you all are really cute together.”

“I really don’t even know what to say to that,” Brendan said.

Kenny shrugged and said, “Just say thanks.”

“You all know Marianne Moore?” said Will.

“I don’t like her,” Annelise said. “I don’t like her name. She sounds like 1965.”

“Anyway,” said Will, “she told me once that she wished she could be raped—”

“What?”

“Well, let me get it out. She said she wanted to be raped so that way she could have sex, but it wouldn’t be a sin because it wouldn’t be her fault.”

“Wow,” Dena said.

“Why in God’s name did you bring that up?” Layla said. And then she looked at Annelise and said, “You know, I keep forgetting he’s not my problem anymore.”

“I’ll take anyone’s help,” Annelise told her.

In the car, on their way back to Rossford,Layla leaned in close to Aidan and said, “I need to be close to you even if it’s dangerous.”

“I’d crash a car for you, baby,” Aidan dropped a kiss on her.

Layla parted from him, saying, “I don’t think that’s what they’d want to hear on the eleven o’clock news if we escaped the crash.”

Aidan laughed.

“You always make me fucking laugh,” he told her. “I can’t believe I laughed before I met you. Was I happy before I met you?”

“Aidan, if you’d been depressed, you know we couldn’t have got together.”

“Yeah.” As he paid attention to the road, he caught her hand and folded it in his.

“But I can’t remember you not being around. It’s like you’ve always been around.”

“Aidan Michaelson, you are a goddamn romantic.”

“You love it.”

“I do. That’s the truth.”

“I almost wish I was traveling with you and Dena instead of starting college.”

“Well, look at it this way. You’ll be a semester ahead of us when we get back. And… you can’t have the joy of seeing me again if you don’t miss me.”

“How do I look?”

“You sort of look like a virgin,” Fenn told his sister.

His mother and grandmother gave him a severe look while he shrugged, and Adele, in her wedding gown, on the stool, said, “You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t say it.”

“But this was the dress I wore at my first wedding.”

“And it was the one I wore at mine,” their mother said, “which means that now, it’s cream color. The perfect color for a second marriage.”

“If I was you,” Grandma said, “I would dye it bright red.”

“Is she was you, she’d have to,” said Fenn. “And before you can throw me out, I’m going out. To smoke a cigarette.”

He was coming out of the house, and taking a cigarette out of his breast pocket when he stopped and saw a dangerous face.

“Vanessa?”

“Fenn.”

“Julian’s not here,” Fenn told his half sister. “In fact… Julian’s almost never here.”

“I’m not here for Julian,” she said. “Adele. She’s getting married, right?”

“Right?” Fenn said with a raised eyebrow.

“We’re family,” said Vanessa. “I’m going to go in and ask her if I can come. Julian will be there. Our father—he’s my father too, Fenn—”

“Oh, you can have him.”

“Well, he’ll be there. And I think I should be there too. For my sister.”

Fenn took a breath and said, “I think for your sake, I’d better escort you into the house. C’mon.”

“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU bitches aren’t going to school with us,” Radha said as they climbed out of the car.

“We are going to school.”

“But not this semester,” said Claire. She swung her red hair to keep it from shutting in the door.

“No one said you all couldn’t take a break,” Dena noted, pushing her shades on as they crossed the parking lot. “And go on the road.”

“Actually my mother did,” Claire said. “Paul disappeared for almost ten years. I’ve got to be the good one. At least for now.”

“I like it when we go out together,” Radha said, bumping Layla in the shoulder.

“It makes me feel girly and shit.”

Layla said, “It makes my feet hurt.”

“Layla,” Dena said, tugging her arm.

“Hum,” Layla said.

“We need to talk.”

Layla looked ahead to Claire and Radha, and nodded her head.

“You’ll have to catch me in the dressing room.”

In the dressing room, Layla stopped herself from screaming when Dena slid under the door.

“I meant knock and whisper,” Layla said, buttoning her skirt.

Dena slithered through and said, “It’s about me and Milo.”

“Okay.”

“I didn’t want to keep things from you anymore. But I wanted to not spill out things. You know, I wanted to honor what happened.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I slept with Milo. I mean, I’m sleeping with him.”

Layla blinked, and then she said, “I guess I should tell you the truth too.”

“What?” Dena grabbed her hands.

“Me and Aidan. Aidan and I.”

Dena tilted her head and looked hard at Layla.

“Are you? You and Aidan.”

Layla nodded.

Dena hugged her closely, and while Dena was hugging her, Layla added, “And Will. That was the reason we broke up. You know,” Layla parted from her. “It was the sex.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was… I don’t know,” Layla said.

Dena kissed her on the cheek.

“Layla, you can tell me anything.”

“You told her what?”

“I told her I was sleeping with you.”

Aidan looked at her and leered.

“What?” Layla began. Then, “No!”

“I’m just saying…” Aidan shrugged.

“Well, you can keep saying.”

“So…. I have to pretend to be sleeping with you?”

“I’d appreciate it.”

Aidan sighed.

“Aidan. I’ve been thinking, we’ve been on first base, as they say, for a long time. And, we need to start progressing.”

“To second base,” Aidan began, then said, “Enough baseball metaphors.”

“Yeah, I hate baseball,” Layla agreed. “And actually we should just skip second base and move straight to third.”

Aidan squeezed Layla and kissed her on the mouth. It was long and deep and wet and when he separated, grinning at her, Layla added, “By the way?”

“Huh?”

“We also have to pretend I was sleeping with Will.”

“Oh, my gosh, he’s toddling.”

“A little bit,” Fenn said. “I think he said a word the other day. Or something like it.”

Todd looked at him.

“He said megaphone.”

“Oh, stop.”

“I’m serious.”

Brian shook his head and Tom, who was also in the kitchen, reached for his son and cooed, “Did you say megaphone? Did you really say megaphone?”

“At first I thought it was motherfucker,” Fenn said, reaching around Tara and Melanie for his wallet, “but it was definitely megaphone.”

“Poor baby,” Brian said. “That probably will be the first word out of his mouth if he takes after his papa.”

“Hey, the first word out of his mouth was megaphone. Now, we’re going out. Adele’s all in distress about the wedding. I’ll be back in about two hours. Don’t fuck each other.”

“My God,” Tom muttered as Fenn departed with Melanie and Tara.

“I’ve never been in a three way,” Tom reflected while outside the car drove away with Fenn and his friends.

Todd and Brian both looked at him with raised eyebrows.

“I was just saying…. I’m not saying I want that.”

“You shouldn’t even bring that up again. Lee’s ears are probably burning.”

“Lee would kill you.”

“Yes he would,” Tom agreed. “Fear is good. It really salts a relationship.”

“Knowing someone loves you enough to castrate you for infidelity does give the relationship that extra umph,” Todd said, and Brian and Tom both looked at him now.

“Okay, enough about castration,” Brian finally said. “Now to our original purpose.”

“We are going to have the threesome?” said Todd.

Tom put his hands over the baby’s ears.

“The party,” Brian said. “Does Fenn really want a party?”

“I’m sure he will,” Todd said. “I can’t imagine him saying ‘no party for me’.”

“I mean, it’s an important occasion, but on the other hand, maybe he doesn’t want it marked.”

“He wants it marked,” Todd said. “And then… maybe not. I really don’t know.”

“You’ve lived with him for seven years.”

“Eight, actually. And you lived with him for ten. You know Fenn.”

“I think,” Brian said, resting his fingertips on the table, “I know exactly what you mean. This is a big event. So… how about we just throw the party and get a cake, but…. No forty candles, you know. No signs about happy fortieth. Just a party. And we all know why it’s so big. How’s that?”

“That’s a great idea,” Tom said while Todd folded his hands and nodded sharply with approval.

“I really don’t know what the big deal is, though,” Brian sat back, smiling. “I mean, I feel as fit and as sexy as I did at twenty-five. Moreso to be honest. I’m looking forward to forty.”

The whole time he made this speech, Tom, whose birthday was only a few weeks south of Fenn’s, and had been checking his temples for grey every day, looked at him witheringly.

“Forty…” Brian went on with a shrug. “It’s the new thirty.”

Tom cleared his throat, took out his planner and, while ticking off what they would need for the party said, “No, Brian. Forty is forty.”